Honestly, this is my favorite prayer in the Bible. Not because it's the most eloquent, or the most theologically precise. Because it's the most true.

"I believe; help my unbelief."

Seven words that hold the whole complicated reality of what faith actually feels like from the inside — at least for me. Not the version we think we're supposed to have. The real thing. The version that shows up at two in the morning when the problem is real, and the prayer I've been praying for years still hasn't been answered.

I believe. And also — I'm not sure. Both things, at the same time, in the same breath.

This father has been watching his son suffer since childhood. Seizures. Falls into fire, into water. Years of this. He came to Jesus's disciples first, and they couldn't help. So by the time Jesus arrives, this man's faith has been through things that would test anyone's. When he says "if you can do anything," that if is doing a lot of work. It's not the language of someone standing on solid ground. It's the language of someone who has hoped before and learned to be careful about hoping.

And Jesus doesn't rebuke him for the if. Doesn't send him away to shore up his faith before coming back. He heals the boy.

What gets me about this story is that the man's prayer is essentially an admission of failure. By every standard of confident, mountain-moving faith, he's falling short. He knows it. He says so out loud, right there in front of Jesus.

And that turns out to be exactly the right thing to say.

I think about all the times I've stayed quiet in prayer because I didn't feel certain enough. All the times I've dressed up my doubts in more acceptable language because I was afraid that bringing my actual faith — small and mixed and honest as it is — wouldn't be enough. As if Jesus needed me to perform certainty before he could work.

This father didn't perform anything. He just told the truth.

Maybe that's what faith actually looks like most of the time. Not a feeling of absolute certainty. Not the absence of doubt. Just the honesty to say out loud what's actually true — I believe this, but I'm not sure I believe it enough. And somehow, in this story, that admission is the very thing Jesus works with.

Jesus doesn't fill up the father's faith like a tank running low. He responds to the father's honesty. That's a different kind of grace entirely — one that meets us in our transparency rather than waiting for our certainty.

And that prayer has never been turned away. Ever.

Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. We don't bring you our certainty — we rarely have enough. We bring you the truth about where we actually are. Meet us there. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Cliff McCartney.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

This passage is probably written in the late 1st century by the same John who wrote the Gospel of John. But it could also have been written in the late 21st century by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an African Episcopalian leader and visionary. The life of Desmond Tutu reveals how God's word is alive and powerful in our time.

Desmond Tutu lived in South Africa in the late 20th century when 'apartheid', the separation of whites and blacks, severely limited the rights of South African blacks. Working with Nelson Mandela, who had been imprisoned 27 years for his opposition to apartheid, Tutu opposed hatred and embraced love. After Mandela was released from prison and became President of South Africa, he appointed Tutu to oversee the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body that helped South Africa heal from the crimes of apartheid through confession by those who committed the crimes, forgiveness by those who suffered, and restitution to those who had been abused.

Both Mandela and Tutu embraced the African concept of ubuntu (ooh-boon-too). In Tutu's words, "It refers to gentleness, to compassion, to hospitality, to openness to others, to vulnerability, to be available to others and to know that you are bound up with them in the bundle of life."

In his book, God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for our Time, Desmond Tutu states, "We tend to think love is a feeling, but it is not. Love is an action; love is something we do for others." He further says, "For he who would love God must love his brother also. And so the divine judgment about our fitness for heaven will be based not on whether we went to church, whether we prayed or did other equally important religious things. No, Jesus says it will be based on whether we fed the hungry, clothed the naked. We do this not because of our politics, but because of our religion. Blessed be God our God for being such a God."

Throughout his lifetime, Desmond Tutu received over 100 honorary degrees. In 1984 he received the Nobel Peace Prize . He was often compared to Martin Luther King, and Jesse Jackson referred to him as the "Martin Luther King of Africa." But he remained a humble man.

Tutu believed that "The evil that we do to one another is much easier to see than the everyday acts of goodness and generosity that we do for one another in the sweep of human history. But ultimately this tally of history does not tell us whether God has a plan or a dream. It simply tells us to what extent we have chosen to heed God's call, to become partners with God in realizing His dream."

Dear Lord, give us the courage and faith to live into your dream for the world even if we cannot see its fruition in our time. Help us to love not with words or speech but with actions and truths. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

This podcast was written by Laura Derr and read by Judy Wilson.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

Welcome to the Saturday episode of the Grace for All podcast. Thank you for joining us today. Saturday is a special time when we take a few moments to review the scriptures that we have cited in the episodes this week.

If you missed any of those episodes, you might want to consider listening to them today. And even if you heard them all, there may be one that you might want to listen to again. We hope that each of these scriptures and podcasts will bring you a full measure of joy, peace, and love.

Now, let's listen to the scriptures that have been on our hearts this week.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.